Wind of Purple Nights
by Kyoka-BOO
Summary: AU Of soccer, obsessions with other students, and foreign languages. That's life at Meiou Private Boarding School, the birthplace of a budding romance. HxK Yaoi DEAD
1. Chapter 1

_**Wind of Purple Nights**_

Me: Well, here's a stinky attempt at starting yet another fic. I've been trying numerous things, but not one of them seems to have turned out well. That includes the Full Metal Alchemist crossover and the Kitten story as well.

I'm not dropping these story ideas, but they'll just be posted at a later time. I should've never made that ordered list of what I'd do next, it never seems to work with me. School sucks, I hat it. I all of my time at this school, the only friend I've made was introduced to me, and I get made fun of for being so quiet in Science. Well, it doesn't matter. After you're done reading this, please review!

Oh, yes, and my good friend, Suzuna just got an account on here a while back. She's started a fic called "Methrayne". She's a very good writer, and I'm sure anybody would enjoy it. It's yaoi, HieixKurama and YuusukexKurama. I think you'd like it. Please review her; she'd like to know what people think.

**Warning:** Yaoi, yes, YAOI! The pairing's HieixKurama and there'll be slight YuusukexHiei in later chapters. You've been warned, so don't come complaining to me if you are against it and you read it anyways. The angst isn't a major thing in this one, and although it will be a minor conflict in here, it isn't anything someone would worry about. At least, I hope it won't be.

_**Chapter One**_

Birds fluttered through the trees, their high-pitched chirps resounding throughout the early morning air. Over neatly kept, rolling green lawns stood a spacious and modern looking building. Nearby, a placid lake added onto the scenery. If you were near enough to it's surface, you'd be able to hear it's fragile surface being disturbed by frogs hopping across lily pads.

A young redheaded boy sat with his back pressed against the trunk of oak tree, still donned in his pajamas with a blanket draped haphazardly across his shoulders. His long, graceful crimson tresses were picked up by the slightest gust of wind, while his sharp emerald orbs were focused intently down at a book with pictures and neat English handwriting in it. He sighed contently and traced lines over a picture.

"Hiei," The name seemed to grace his lips every time he spoke it. It was the sweetest name that he had ever known in his entire life, and he relished the feeling of the name rolling off of his tongue. Ever since he had first learned the name three and a half years ago, he had been hooked upon it, repeating it practically every waking moment. Who could help it, with such a perfect name, it seemed natural that such a perfect person would go along with it.

A smile graced his features as he flipped the page. Some people said that Hiei was a gruff, distant person who wasn't good to be around, but he wouldn't have it any other way. Blood red eyes glared up at him as Kurama stared lovingly down back. While a contented smile peaked his features, a bitter scowl graced the face of the boy's in the picture. Such a sour expression darkened his features considerably.

Yes, he was very much obsessed with Yasuda, Hiei. He knew almost everything about Hiei, and had Hiei been aware of his presence at this school he wouldn't be alive without regretting it for very long. Hiei was the coldest, most dangerous person here at Meiou Private Boarding Academy. However, his weak point was ice cream and he'd agree to anything if his 'sweet snow' were involved. He played center offense in the school's elite soccer team and his best subject was foreign language. He could go on about the student for hours on end.

His mind strayed off to Hiei's appearance. People often made fun of the blood red eyes that Hiei had inherited from his father. In his opinion, they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Although he had no idea how Hiei did his hair up, Kurama loved the fact that it seemed to defy the laws of gravity. A voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Shuu-kun! Shuu-kun!" a happy voice rang across the lawn. He looked up, surprised. Only one person called him by that name. A cheerful girl in a school uniform ran up to him and dropped down to her knees to talk to him. Her cherry pink eyes sparkled happily, her oddly colored blue hair drawn back into a high ponytail.

"Shuuichi, why aren't you getting ready for breakfast? You know that if the teachers find you out here at this time in your pajamas that you'll get in trouble for it. Hirosue-sensei was looking for you too, she was saying something about that foreign language test you took to try and get into English eight." Shuuichi smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I was actually hoping that she would be getting back to me with the results for some time now. Thank you for informing me of this, Botan" He stood up and picked up his book and blanket. Botan cocked an eyebrow.

"Why do you have your diary with you?" She asked, reading the Japanese characters across the front, giving a warning to people who snooped there. She didn't expect Shuuichi to be hauling the book around with him. It was a comprehensible piece to people who could read English well, and she wondered why he would take the risk of somebody who knew how to read it coming across it.

"How did you guess? There's a specific reason why I use English, you know." He asked. He had thought that anybody looking at it would've thought it to be a report for English class, seeing as it was all written in English. He didn't believe he held the book in a way Botan would be able to see the kanji warning against intruders either.

"I saw the Kanji on the front." She informed him quickly. She stood up and waved to him. She wanted to get to breakfast early so that she wouldn't be stuck eating the cold remains of eggs at the bottom of the pan and the burnt remains of toast that the cooks had been careless with. It was never a pleasant day when you had to eat such food that tasted that bad for breakfast.

"Well then, Shuuichi, I'm going to get going now. Should I save a seat for you at our regular breakfast table?" Kurama nodded, replying

"Yes, I'll be with you in a moment. I just want a chance to get dressed and talk to Hirosue-sensei about this entrance exam. I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?" With that, they both went their separate ways.

Kurama drew a key out of his pocket and opened a door when he reached it. He immediately threw off his pants and shirt when he entered. There was nothing to worry about here. Had it been a few months ago, he would've had to wait and go change in the bathroom. He used to have a roommate a short while back, but he had transferred to a school closer to his original home.

Kurama had found out this boy had happened to have a crush on him. He'd been a little scared about the boy watching him change, so he always had it in mind to change in the bathroom with the door closed and locked. He went to the closet where his neat, trim school uniform hung and withdrew it. He sighed as he redressed in the neater clothes. He was lucky he didn't have to brush his hair, seeing as he had already done it this morning before he had gone outside, or he'd have be late to breakfast.

He shut his dormitory door behind him when he walked out. There was nobody in the halls right now; generally you'd go to breakfast early if you were smart. It was known that if you were anything more than two minutes late, you'd be stuck eating food that was barely edible, even to least picky eater here.

"Oh, there you are, Koizumi-kun." Kurama spun around to the female voice he heard, practically jumping out of his skin at the surprise the noise had aroused within him. A smile spread across his face immediately when he saw who the speaker was.

"Ohayou Gozaimasu, Hirosue-sensei! Botan told me you were looking for me, correct?" The smiling black-haired woman nodded cheerfully.

"Yes, I have been looking for you. I'm very proud that your marks on the English exam I gave you were very far above average. I've decided to admit you into my class. I congratulate you on a job well done, Koizumi-kun I haven't seen anybody you age be admitted to such an advanced language program. I have your new schedule, and I hope to be seeing you this afternoon in class. Now, I believe you should be getting off to breakfast." She said in a kind and happy voice. Kurama smiled to himself at the news. She handed him a schedule and he took it politely.

"Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu, Hirosue-sensei. I'll see you this afternoon," he said, bowing to her out of respect.

He couldn't believe he had actually done it. He mentally cheered happily over and over again. All those hours of studying had paid off. He wasn't a naturally talented speaker at the English language, but he had his reasons for wanting to be in such and advanced language program. Hiei happened to be in that class, and Shuuichi wanted Hiei to notice him. He thought if he got as close to Hiei as possible, then maybe the distant student'd notice him. He'd known he'd get into Hiei's class because as you got up passed the seventh level of a language class, the school only had one class of each.

There were very few students at that level they needed to teach, so they simply saved money and time by teaching only one class. Besides, it was so hard to get a class with the boy because not only was Hiei as advanced for his age as Shuuichi was, he was also three years older.

Shuuichi had another plan at getting close to Hiei that had been formulating in his head for quite some time now. He knew how much Hiei was devoted to the soccer team, and recently two members had left the team for some reason or the other.

It had been announced that the team would be holding tryouts that evening. The only downside to this plan was that Kurama couldn't play soccer for his life, even if he'd been practicing for hours on end as soon as he had heard about the opening on the team. He'd just have to hope that he didn't look like the worst player there. It seemed highly improbable that he'd make it, but Shuuichi was still forcing himself to go and try. Worry suddenly overtook him. What if he made a fool of himself right in front of Hiei during tryouts? Hiei had never talked to Kurama face to face before, so why would Hiei see any reason to talk to him if he messed up? Damn… he didn't know what to do.

His thoughts were halted where they were when he reached the large, cozy cafeteria. Since it WAS a boarding school, it was nicer than a regular school cafeteria, there were nice chairs stationed around hundreds of wooden tables. Kurama found Botan sitting at a table a little ways away. There was a plate full of food waiting there for him.

"You choose to get me food, Botan. That was an awfully kind thing of you to do, you know." Botan smiled at him as he sat down.

"Well, would you rather be eating burnt toast and rotten banana as a breakfast?" she asked. He shrugged and began with eating eggs. His thoughts didn't seem to want to stray too far from Hiei currently. Even when he was eating his eggs, trying to keep himself focused, he seemed to only veering off to his dream world, images of Hiei flying through his mind. He blushed softly as he ate, the image of Hiei with his lips pressed harshly against his coming into his mind. With a sharp intake of breath, he almost choked on his eggs while he tried without avail to force the thoughts away. He blushed once again while Botan stared apprehensively at the redhead.

"Shuu-kun… is there anything wrong?" she asked in a quiet voice. Kurama shook his head quickly at the girl; she still looked like she didn't believe the answer.

"No, of course there isn't anything wrong, Botan-chan. Why would you think anything like that?" he said, keeping calm. By this time, though, Botan was able to see through these well-placed masks, she knew him much too well. For heavens sake, she even knew about how he felt towards Hiei.

"This wouldn't be about _him, _would it be?" she asked the redhead. A blush immediately rose on his cheeks; he averted his gaze so she wouldn't be able to see this.

"Now, now, Botan-chan. Why would you think that?" he said in a clam, even voice. Most people would not be able to see through such a good lie, and Shuuichi was sure that he'd be able to pass a lie detector test if he ever needed to. She seemed to be the only one who was able to see through his lies; he knew that she hadn't fallen for his lie when a wide, girly smile spread across his features.

"I knew it! You've got a plan to impress Hiei, haven't you?" Shuuichi sighed. This was just too invasive. He wondered how the heck the girl had gotten to know him so well. He knew very well she didn't stalk him to get to know him. Perhaps she was reading his diary, he didn't know if she was proficient in English or not, so it was always a possibility. He sighed, now he'd have to tell her, or she'd be on his back about it all day.

"Yeah, I was thinking about joining the soccer team to maybe get his attention." Botan smiled, Shuuichi sighed. She had always urged him to join a sport, she said that it wasn't good for you to be so into books and never get out in the sunlight. He really didn't want to hear what she was going to say next. Surprisingly, he heard nothing else from her all of breakfast; she just smiled at him and went back to eating her own meal.

Classes passed by monotonously. He went from pre-calculus to Japanese literature, Japanese history, then onto anatomy after that lunch, then gym. He didn't really anticipate the start of this English class, but he couldn't help but look forward to seeing Hiei. He hadn't seen him around lately, and he wanted to see his face again. He finally got the got the chance to see Hiei's face again.

As he walked into his English classroom, Hiei was already there, and unlike the people was completely silent. Instead of talking like most people did, he had his nose buried in a book that was written in a language not even Kurama could understand or recognize in the slightest. It bore no clue to what it may have been about; it was just a completely black cover with regular pages, lacking illustrations to help Kurama's guesses along. Nobody seemed to care to talk to him anyways; maybe they were all scared of him or something.

"All Rise!" a feminine voice called out. The entire class stood as their teacher walked in, including Hiei. They greeted their teacher and bowed.

"Arai, Hiroshi… Enmoto, Yui…" she said, opening her book and taking attendance. She motioned for the class to sit down and began writing English on the board. Shuuichi automatically knew what it was and raised his hand.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Hirosue, I need a copy of this English literature book that you're referring to." He said in a well-pronounced English voice, making sure his tongue didn't trip over foreign syllables. The teacher smiled and nodded,

"Yes, Mr. Koizumi, I forgot you didn't already possess a copy. I commend you on excellent pronunciation on that last sentence. Mr. Yasuda, there are extra copies on the shelf over there, would you kindly bring him a copy? Please bring him a grammar, vocabulary, and literature book." She told him. She went back to writing page numbers and assignments on the board, along with a reminder of a test they'd be having and the grammar units the needed to study for. She didn't see Hiei scowl behind her back, replying with disguised annoyance,

"Yes, Mrs. Hirosue." He went over to a shelf to retrieve three large books. He snorted at Shuuichi when he walked over to his desk and threw the books down, narrowly missing Kurama's hands, which were neatly folded on the desk's top. Shuuichi was in a daze, admiring the hot voice Hiei possessed. Sure, he'd heard it before, but it always took his breath away.

"Show off…" he growled under his breath, so only Shuuichi could hear it. The redhead blinked as Hiei stormed away to his desk and sat down, scribbling down answers in his workbook. Had Hiei really thought that he had really been showing off? He just wanted to make a good impression on Hiei.

Surely, he didn't want Hiei to think that he was a complete idiot. Not only that, but he didn't want to seem like he was showing off anymore. He sighed and opened his own grammar workbook. He groaned under his breath. Changing verbs into the past tense had never been his best thing. He could never tell which verbs were irregular in the past tense. These were really hard ones too. He tries to remember what the past tense of 'throw' was as he translated a particularly long paragraph. He knew that it wouldn't be 'throwed' but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what the word would be.

The teacher tapped her desk to get their attention. "Now, class, I'd like you to please open your books to page four hundred ninety-one in your modern English literature books. Mr. Yasuda, I'd like you to start us off with the first few pages please." Hiei stood from his desk with the book in hand and read the first few pages from a popular English novel of which Kurama had never heard the name.

He was so wrapped up in Hiei's voice; the English words weren't even registering in his brain. All he did was sit there, star struck at the amazingly talented English voice. A melodic bell rang, snapping Kurama out of his current reverie, where in which Hiei was kissing him, whispering soft and loving words into his while holding him in a tight embrace. He blushed slightly and stood at the teacher's orders

"Bow!" The class bowed at the same time and the teacher left. Shuuichi sighed at least this was his last class of the day; otherwise, he would've been much too distracted. He watched Hiei walk out with longing eyes. He probably should be careful about how he acted around Hiei; otherwise, he'd never have a chance, no matter how hard he tried.

Come to think of it, he didn't even know if Hiei was interested in boys. It would make sense if he didn't; he seemed just too perfect to be like that. It never hurt to hope though, did it? He'd just have to go to soccer tryouts and try to make the team. Maybe luck would be on his side tonight. Maybe it wouldn't be. He just hoped that he didn't make a fool of himself in front of Hiei.

He sighed. Classes went late here, because of the fact that it was a prestigious academy that prided education. As a bonus, classes didn't start until nine, which delayed the end of classes even further. It was expected for students to take a shower in the morning, and do homework at night. Not that the students cared, many did it the other way around. It had to be around five o' clock by now. Soccer tryouts started at five thirty. He supposed that he should warm up alone before they started. He'd just drop his books back at his dormitory and change into some casual clothes before heading out.

He sighed as he kicked the soccer ball out to the field. It wasn't a very neat kick, the ball went in every which direction and Shuuichi traveled in a jagged path, narrowly avoiding rocks jutting out of the ground.

More than one time, he tripped over the black and white ball. He was lucky nobody was around, because even he deemed his current efforts pathetic. He kicked the ball to the soccer and tried to kick it into a goal. He missed by a long shot. Why he was even trying out for this team when he completely sucked at this sport was unknown, even to Kurama. Did he really think that this would impress Hiei? He just had to try. He wouldn't give up trying to win the boy's affection so easily. He ran fast and with all his might, kicked the ball. It flew very fast and landed right in the center of the goal.

For once, Shuuichi found himself overcome with joy in his own triumph. Perhaps if he got good at soccer he could really enjoy playing it. He couldn't help cheering at his new breakthrough. Something black caught the corner of his eyes and he turned to his right to see what it was. Wiping his sweaty red bangs out of his field of view, his eyes widened, dreading the sight before him. How had he not seen him before, sitting right there in the bleachers. Halfway concealed by shadows, sat the raven-haired boy of his dreams, he was dressed casually in black attire now, a look of complete disgust painted across his features. His book sat unopened in his lap.

Shuuichi felt his breath catch as Hiei stood, a look of complete annoyance on his face. The soccer ball, which he had currently been practicing dribbling with, rolled off to the side somewhere. He didn't know what do or say. Hiei looked pretty annoyed, and he had no idea why. He began to tremble lightly, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek. He didn't know what he found so scary about Hiei right now, but he felt scared out of his wits as of now.

"Damn it all…"

Me: Well, I'm done? What do you think about it so far? This is going to be a fun story for me to write, I already have a lot of good stuff planned for it. Expect me to update soon, within the next week or two. I'll make my promise as I did for my last story. I will not abandon this story for another one or discontinue it. The only exception to this would be if there is a personal matter holding me back from writing. If this happens, which I highly doubt will, everyone will be informed, and those wanting to know will be told what I was going to do here.

Here's a bit of help if all the names were a bit hard to place:

Koizumi- Shuuichi's last name

Shuu-kun- Botan's nickname for Shuuichi, although I'm pretty sure everyone can figure that out.

Yasuda- Hiei's last name

Shimokawa- Botan's last name, although I didn't mention it this chapter

Hirosue-sensei- Equivalent to Mrs. Hirosue

Oh, yes, and if I happen to write another English class scene, just suppose that they're speaking in English if they use the name suffixes (-kun, -chan, -senpai, -sensei, -sama, -koi…) So, yeah, until next time, Ja ne!


	2. Chapter 2

_**Wind of Purple Nights**_

Me: well, Here you are. Another Chapter. Looking over it, I hope this one doesn't bore you, because I didn't think the chapter itself would be too appealing this time around. Whatever you think, leave me a review.

**Dislaimer: **I don't own it, sadly enough. I don't know if you'd be afan of the show if I did own it.

**Warning: **YAOIII and SHOOONENN AIII I will not say it again. Any brain damage that normal Yuu Yuu Hakusho fans recieve if they aren't yaoi fans is not my responsibility, nor if you stumble across something that you don't like.

Me: On with the fic! I shall take about a week more to post the next chapter, but I will work hard to update ASAP. Please, feel free to leave a reveiw. REALLY! It's wonderful if you read it, but it's a heavenly virtue if you reveiw. I only takes a moments time, and plus, I will worship you from then on. (I love reveiwers. Mind you, not flamers) I happily accept constructive critisicm, and any opinions you have. They help improve. So, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!

_**Chapter Two**_

Shuuichi simply stood there, his wide with surprise. He hadn't noticed Hiei there, nor had he expected to see him here just yet. May be he should have thought of it, considering that Hiei was always very dedicated to the soccer team. It almost upset him that he was doing so bad, especially with Hiei watching. Maybe the older boy had been right in saying he was being a show off. Perhaps all these efforts he was making to try and get himself noticed by Hiei were really like that of a somebody who liked to show off. He really didn't want to seem like he wanted to,all he wanted to do was not seem like a useless to Hiei. Maybe it was all useless. It could simply be possible he'd never appeal to Hiei in any way. Why should he act like he wanted to play a sport when he really didn't want to.

The truth was, although Shuuichi's original attempts at joining the soccer team had solely been for Hiei and that only, he had grown quite attached to the sport-- even if he knew that he wasn't talented at the sport, and was willing to admit it to himself. He herd Hiei mutter something under his breath, his ears barely managed to catch the quiet, yet annoyed and negative tone.

"Stupid kid, you'll never make it!" Shuuichi's eyes narrowed in a determined way. He wasn't a kid, for heavens sake, Hiei was only three years older than him. There was no way that he'd stop from trying to make this soccer team, and even if Hiei didn't appreciate his efforts to try, he just had to do it. It wasn't only just to try and get acquainted with the boy of his dreams, but also to sate a secret, unspoken desire in his heart to find a place to fit in. He'd come to this boarding school as a happy person, but he hadn't ever had many friends. He'd only had Botan and his mother as true friends, because of Hiei, he'd always went to the school's soccer games, and he'd seem how the team had fun together. They were like a family-- helping each other, laughing together, even Hiei would talk to the members of his team. Shuuichi wanted, no-- longed for people like that to be around. After all, he'd always been the smart one, the quiet boy who sat in the corner, the outcast. Although there had been any girls who had a crush on him for his attractive looks, but they had no desire to know him, and neither had Shuuichi for that matter.

They looked at each other for one moment, and then Hiei went to sit down, burying his nose in his book with an annoyed snort. Shuuichi shrugged it off and went back to practicing. He just had to make this team. He pushed himself harder with this practice. Other boys began to file onto the field slowly. Although Shuuichi wanted to continue practicing, he didn't want the boys to really see how bad he was until he gave his best shots on it for tryouts. Maybe he would luck out and not make a fool of himself in front of Hiei and the entire team.

He sat down on the bleachers where most of the other boy's had gathered in a small huddle. He counted the players in his head. There were only three new people here. It was him, a thin and lanky boy, looking nervous while biting his fingernails, and another confident looking boy. Shuuichi had to admit, this boy looked like he'd be the one who had the most chances of making it. But what made Shuuichi a tiny bit more confident was that the team needed two more players, that was the number they needed to have in order to meet district regulations. Perhaps he had a chance, although Shuuichi highly doubted it, since he had really never had too much luck when it came to sports. A boy turned to him, obviously trying to be friendly,

"Hello, what's your name. I'm Okui Yuusuke. What'd your name." he smiled blinked, waiting for the redhead's answer. Shuuichi was happy someone talked to him. It was rare to see a complete stranger come up to him and greet him.

Kurama

"I'm Koizumi Shuuichi. It's nice to meet you, Okui-san." he bowed politely. A voice spoke up over them.

"Now, please boys, I want you to quiet down please. For those of you who tried out last year know how I get when I get angry." all heads snapped to the man in front. Shuuichi cocked his head at him curiously. The man wore long pants and a white shirt in the style of a something that resembled a tunic. His hair was the oddest color of silver-white. Shuuichi almost felt himself laughing out loud at the fake fox ears and fox tail he wore. Yuusuke whispered next to him,

"Don't worry about Kurama-san, he's odd and he claims he's the legendary king of thieves, but he's a good coach. He's funny too..." Kurama nodded absentmindedly as Kurama began talking about the procedure of things for the tryouts. Of course, the team members from last year didn't have to try out, but many of them wanted to meet their new teammates before the first practice. Some enjoyed seeing what everybody looked like playing out on the field. Kurama asked that they try and make it, he always needed people with experience to help the new people along.

"Now, I want for our participants to stand up," said Kurama. The two other boys and Shuuichi stood up, this made Kurama frown.

"Now, now.. people aren't as enthusiastic as they used to be. Only three people trying out this year? Mou... Well, boys, what we'll be doing tonight will be pretty basic, I want to see how many goals you can score in a moment, your kicking techniques, and then you'll team up with a team member to tr and score a goal against five other members. Now, can we have our three people come forward and try to score a goal. Yuusuke I want you to guard the goal and do your best to block their shots. Each person had three minutes to score as many goals as they go. Please give me your names before you're going to go, okay?"

Shuuichi walked up to Kurama nervously. He felt under pressure, the fear that he wouldn't do well lingered. He certainly didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of Hiei, that was for sure. Oh gods, why the heck was he going through with this? "Name?" asked Kurama impatiently, tapping his foot to wait for Shuuichi's prolonged answer.

"Koizumi, Shuuichi," he said quietly, lowering his gaze and bowing politely. An impatient voice stopped him.

"You don't need to be formal, it makes you look stupid. It'd be a shame if you really are stupid too, because you give me the impression that you're quite intelligent." Shuuichi nodded quickly towards the goal, where another member of the team was standing. "You can go over there, I guess you can go first. Just try and get as many goals as you can. Please don't use a loser technique either, I'd rather you score a wimpy amount of goals rather than see a crappy technique on anyone's part. Lighten up, Shuuichi, you look like your life is going to depend upon this." Shuuichi jumped. Had the teacher just called him by his first name? What an odd teacher, you would almost never hear of such a thing. Maybe he was a teacher was from America. He had heard that many Americans didn't have much regard for politeness that the Japanese help high in their language. What an odd person.

Shuuichi sighed, there wasn't much else to do other than walk up to the goal and begin. It wasn't like he cared about this coach calling him by his first name, it had just stunned him, seeing as you never saw such a thing. Honorifics were a very large part of the Japanese language, and it was completely disregarding the language if you didn't use them. "Yuusuke, I want you to act as goalie for now, I don't want you going easy on anyone, but please don't guard as you would for an opponent. You're a very good goalie, but just keep it to a medium for now, alright?" Yuusuke nodded and walked out in front of the goal. Shuuichi felt relieved that it wasn't only he who was called by his first name by this coach. Otherwise, he would have been quite frightened by it.

He did his best to do as the coach had asked. He minded his technique a lot more than usual, and in his opinion, luck was certainly on his side. He followed the ball fairly well without faltering, only tripping once. Although Kurama felt slightly embarrassed with each move he attempter, he had to admit that he could have done a lot worse than what he was doing now.

There was one problem though. Yuusuke kept blocking his shots. Kurama grew more desperate each time he followed the ball back and then kicked it again, a faulty attempt to try and score at least one goal before the time was up. Yuusuke threw the ball back to him he managed to hit the ball halfway across the length of of the playing field.

He ran quickly after it, and with a swift kick, the ball whizzed threw the air, right past Yuusuke and into the goal. To be truthful, Yuusuke was quite stunned, he hadn't seen what was coming, the way the redhead moved. Had Yuusuke not Kurama wasn't that fair of a player from simple observation, he would've thought that move measured up to that of someone who'd been playing for many years. Even Kurama was astounded at how fast he had been at scoring that goal, surprised at how fast he had reacted and then carried the ball across the field. He heard Kurama's whistle blow, signaling the end of his time. He still didn't expect to make it, you didn't make teams on luck alone. You needed skill for it, and that was something Kurama severely lacked on this field.

As he walked back to the stands to wait for the other two people to finish the first part of their tryout, he glanced over at Hiei. Shuuichi felt a pang of sadness. Hiei hadn't seen, his nose was buried in that book of his, as usual. What would it take to prove himself to Hiei? Or at least, make Hiei see that he wasn't a worthless show-off? He looked back over to Yuusuke, who smiled reassuringly and gave him a thumbs-up. He could tell the boy was just trying to be nice, because even Yuusuke would know that his technique was rough, lacking skill and experience. He sighed and sat back down.

He watched the other two go about their way of scoring goals, only half aware of his surroundings. He was surprised to see that the nervous looking boy scored no goals. However, the other boy did very well. Within five seconds of watching him, he knew that this boy would make the team for sure. His technique was near perfect, and he ran really fast. After two minutes, He had managed to score fifteen shots, the ball whizzing endlessly past the now confused boy's shoulders. Even Kurama blew the whistle well before the boy's time was up, telling him that what he ha done was already enough. Shuuichi sighed in a discouraged manner.

"Good job, guys. Now, I'll pair you up with two other team members. I want you to try and score a goal against the five other members against you. Remember basic passing drills and such, they should help you. Yuusuke and Hiei, I want you to team up with each person trying out. Shuuichi, you'll go first. For our five opponents, I want Nanashi, Hiroto, Taro, Taisuke, and Kenji." Shuuichi practically fainted at this. Hiei wouldn't want to be on a team with him. Not that he was quite excited about it, but it wasn't like he'd expect for Hiei to cooperate. They filed neatly onto the field, facing off. Hiei and Yuusuke were a lot faster than he was. He had to stain himself to keep up with their brisk-looking pace. They didn't look the least bit bothered by the speed that they were running at.

He just watched as they passed the ball to each other, concentrating on the field ahead of them while occasionally looking down to pass the ball to the other. Hiei rolled his eyes and passed the ball to Shuuichi. Naturally, the redhead had not been expecting it, but he managed to get control of the ball within a few seconds, thankfully. Hiei looked a bit surprised at this, yet the emotionless look on his face remained undisturbed for the most part.

Two other boys surrounded him. With only a seconds hesitation, he passed to Hiei again, the ball whizzing between somebody's legs and rolling in Hiei's direction. Luckily enough, the one player guarding Hiei missed his ball. The one of the players immediately abandoned him to go chase after the running black blur. Another boy ran off to help guard the goal. The whole team knew Hiei. He generally liked to distract people with fancy passes and then go in to score a goal. His kicks were practically unstoppable, so they knew reacted by gathering near the goal. Large numbers of people working together were often one of the only things that could stop those incredible kicks.

Shuuichi ran after them quickly. He was really happy right now that Hiei had kicked the ball to him. It was unbelievable how fun this could be when you were playing with other people. He didn't think he'd had so much fun in his life, it made him feel so free and happy. To his surprise, Hiei passed to him again. It was so unexpected for the entire team, they just stood there dumbly. It must've been thirty seconds before Shuuichi actually kicked, anyone could have stopped him. But the other boys hadn't ever seen him pass to someone when he could have so easily scored a goal that t had brought quite a severe shock to their systems.

Shuuichi tripped at the same moment he kicked the ball and he fell flat on his face. He gave a happy sigh. Never before, had he been so happy about something he did, even while his entire body ached, and his breath was so short that his lungs ached. Hiei had passed to him. Never had he thought that Hiei would look in his direction, much less, pass a soccer ball to him. It made him almost want to melt inside. Maybe he would have a chance with Hiei after all. He felt someone kick him in the side. It was enough to bring him out of his thoughts and back to reality, not enough to hurt him though. He looked up at Hiei's face, taking a while to figure out that he should really stand up.

"Idiot," he heard Hiei mutter. He looked at Hiei's face for one moment and then turned to walk back to the bleachers, blushing furiously. He sat back and watched the next boy, who surprisingly broke into tears,

"I don't want to join this soccer team, I'm not even good at soccer! For gods' sakes, she made me do it. I wanted to join chess club!" He was muttering about how much he sucked at sports while the entire team stared, not saying anything. Kurama smirked and bent down whispering something in his ear. The boy smiled immediately,

"You'd really tell her that?" he asked excitedly. Kurama nodded without much emotion. He smiled and shook Kurama's hand, walking off without any sign of a farewell. With that, Kurama turned to the team.

"Well, I suppose that we don't really need to do these tryouts now. I need to get two more people on this team, by district requirements, and seeing as there are only two of you left, I mind as well just admit you to this team. You did a good job anyways." Shuuichi felt ecstatic. although his calm demeanor showed the utmost indifference, he was secretly doing a victory dance in his head. He had lucked out in a huge way,. This was probably the best day in his life. Not only did THE Yasuda, Hiei pass the ball to him, but he also

"Practice is twice a day, five days a week. Of course, we don't meet on holidays. Practices are on Saturdays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Yes, that means we start tomorrow. These practices will be in the morning from seven until eight thirty, and our evening practice will be from five to seen. Our games are to be announce. Now, get some sleep everyone, so you're well rested for tomorrow's practice.

With that, all he boys started heading for their dormitories. Yuusuke smiled big and gave him a thumbs up, which he redhead took as his way of saying congratulations. He waved and headed in the direction Hiei was walking in, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"Hey Hiei! Thanks for passing to me today! I'm excited that I get to be on the soccer team with you!" He heard Hiei snort distinctly. Maybe he shouldn't have come up to him and tried to strike up a conversation

"Heh. The only reason that I passed to you was because I felt sorry for you. Don't think that you're special. As for you making the team, it was only dumb luck that Kurama-san was desperate enough to let you on the team. He wouldn't generally let scum like you around his team, but I suppose that this team member minimum has made him pathetically desperate." Kurama said nothing, staring down at the ground. Did Hiei really think he was scum? When they reached Hiei's dormitory door, Hiei walked in and slammed the door in Shuuichi's face, not caring to offer any farewell. Shuuichi sighed sadly. Well, he mind as well get back to his own room. He had a mountain load of homework to do anyways.

Me: Well, There you are, I have done Chapter Two. It's a little early, but I don't even want to bother posting on a school night.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Wind of Purple Night**_

Me: Well, Here you are. I have chapter three done already. Happy Turkey day, to anybody who's celebrating it (Which I'm guessing all of you are) Remember, be very thankful for all you have. I'm thankful for anybody who stumbles across this story and happens to be kind enough to read it. I'm also thankful for anybody who is nice enough to leave his or her mark in form of review. Please, I love reviewers. Tell me what you think, mindless rambling, give advice, ask questions, or even make predictions or suggestions as to what might happen later on in the story. It takes a few minutes of your time, and I reply to anybody who leaves me a signed review. (Anonymous reviewers-I'm sorry, but whatever rules fanfiction lays down, I follow)

_**To the reviewers:**_

Seeing as fanfiction no longer allows it, I will not be replying to reviews in my stories anymore. However, I will reply to anybody who leaves either a signed review, or an e-mail address with his or her review.

_**Warnings and Disclaimer: **_

Nothing more than yaoi and some angst. Like my other story, I will say that I will be involving a lot more of the psychological aspects rather than ones filled with action. No, it will not involve depression or wrist-cutting of any kind, and I am pleased to inform you, that as of now, Hiei and Kurama's fates are looking pretty bright for the future. I will not kill off anyone too important in this story; I've already overdone it in my two other ones.

_**Chapter Three**_

So there Shuuichi sat on the floor of his dormitory, books spread out around him. There was no exaggeration in saying that he had a truckload of homework. Another advanced class added onto Shuuichi's course load hadn't helped the amount of homework he received in the slightest. He had over one hundred problems to do for his mathematics course, a sketch of the bones in the human arm with proper labels due for anatomy along with a paper about various fractures on bones, an entire essay due about an ancient folktale, not to mention the entire English story that had to be read, summarized, and translated along with the five long pages in the grammar workbook. Shuuichi groaned, this was despicable, and he had soccer practice in the morning too. He supposed he'd probably have to skip dinner, seeing as this huge workload would be keeping him awake well into the early morning. Maybe he could convince Botan to sneak him some food. He was ravenous because of choosing not to eat much food at lunch, and he now worried that he might have to skip breakfast as well.

He stood. It wouldn't be good to work off an empty stomach, so he had better just ask Botan to sneak him some food. She'd done it for him before, when he'd have to study for large tests, or if the workload just got too large. There were so many burdens of having to keep up with the advanced courses, his mother expected him to be smart and keep up with his studies. Although his mother never mentioned it, he knew she was expecting him to graduate early. Never had he disappointed his mother of such a thing as not living up to her expectations, and he didn't want to start now.

He walked out, savoring the quiet aura the campus held. Most students were already in their rooms doing their homework. Otherwise, they were off in their own little groups outside, chattering quietly before it came to be time for dinner. He went over to the girl's building for dormitories. It was a good thing he knew that Botan went to her room immediately to set off on homework with her small study group. The cheerful girl happened to be in a few advanced courses herself, so she often took a while to get her homework done as well.

He knocked a few times on a wooden door on the second floor before someone answered. A meek girl, who looked a year or two younger than Shuuichi peered out. "Hello, is Botan there?" he asked in a kind voice. The blue-haired schoolgirl ran quickly to the door and smiled.

"Shuu-kun, what brings you over here?" she asked in her bubbly voice.

"Botan, I have a lot of homework tonight, and I believe I'm going to have to work on it while everyone else goes to dinner, so I was wondering of you'd be so kind as to sneak me a small amount of food." The girl nodded and gave Kurama a thumbs-up. Shuuichi felt a wave of relief at this. He was really hungry, after all.

"Thanks a lot, Botan, you're really a lifesaver. I'll see you around, then?" Botan nodded and saw him off. Shuuichi ran back to his dormitory, he still had a lot of homework to do, after all. He pulled out his heavy-bound anatomy book and took out a sheet of blank paper, carefully referencing off the diagram on one page. Each intricate bone was drawn and erased many times. Shuuichi knew very well that if the drawing weren't neat or accurate enough, he'd get points off. He'd rather avoid that at any cost. He heard a knock on the door just as his hand was beginning to ache from drawing. While continuing to shade in the bones around the gliding joint of the wrist, he called "Come on in, Botan" He glanced quickly at his clock as Botan entered. 7:15? How had it gotten so late? He wasn't even done with this one assignment yet.

Botan knelt down and took a plastic bag out of her school bag. She had to be careful; you weren't supposed to have food outside of the cafeteria. Inside, Kurama found a rice ball and a leg of chicken. The school enjoyed serving a lot of western food, and for that Shuuichi was grateful Japanese food was a lot harder to sneak than this. He bit down into the chicken, looking over the neat drawing and checking to see that it was entirely accurate. While holding the chicken with one hand and a pencil in the other, he began to label each bone, looking back to his book often to check that he wasn't getting anything incorrect.

"How much homework did you have tonight?" asked the girl, who was sitting on the bed, watching Shuuichi as he multi-tasked, trying to eat and work at the same time. Without one word, he handed her a planner full of writing for that day, her eyes grew to the size of saucers and she handed the planner back to Shuuichi, bidding her farewell so the boy could work in peace.

Hours passed monotonously, only the sound of a scribbling of a pen to keep Shuuichi close to reality. More than once, he found his mind drifting off to Hiei again, but he forced himself back to his papers and problems, forcing Hiei rather unsuccessfully out of his mind, only to find more daydreams about him drifting back into his mind only seconds later.

He was a mess, his hair was a mess, his eyes were red from fatigue, and a constant blush present on his pale cheeks. As he struggled through the mess of paragraphs that was called an English story, he found himself glancing at the clock again and again. 4:15... what was he getting at, trying to figure out this English story. He couldn't make heads or tails of it, and with his lids growing heavier second by second; he pushed himself harder to finish. Looking up the last word in the dictionary and writing the last answer in his neat script. He sighed happily. He could finally go to sleep now. With one last yawn, the redhead crawled into bed and curled up under the warm covers. Sleep was found almost instantly and within minutes, Shuuichi found comfort in the revitalizing depths of deep sleep.

A screeching alarm clock woke him up what seemed only seconds later. His hand rose to find the source of the irritating noise, searching blindly across the nightstand before finally finding the alarms off button. With a sleepy sounding yawn, Shuuichi stretched in his usual cat-like way and sat up, rubbing fatigue out of his eyes. His clock already read 6:30. An hour and fifteen minute's sleep hadn't done him much good, Shuuichi felt dead tired.

As the redhead's eyes came into focus, he turned on the lamp on his bedside table and stretched once more. Gentle rays of early morning light streamed in, illumination the space considerably. The light stung the redheaded boy's eyes for a moment, but after blinking a few times to adjust his eyes to the light, he smiled. Overwhelming fatigue still weighted down his eyelids like a ton of bricks, even though Shuuichi wasn't acting too tired. He unbuttoned his nightshirt as he made way to the shower, allowing the garment to hang off his shoulders while he reached into the shower and turned the water on.

Stripping off the rest of his attire, he stepped into the shower. Freezing cold water met the boys back and a yelp of surprise escaped his lips while he jumped off the ground. By impulse, the boy moved away from the stream off cool water, but then forced himself back. It wasn't as if he hadn't expected it, but he was very used to hot showers. There was one problem with a hot shower, though; they only seemed to make the teen sleepier in the mornings. For fear of falling asleep again, simply die to lack of sleep; Shuuichi assumed that a very cold shower would be the best remedy, if any, for this fatigue. He'd just have to get some extra sleep tonight. What was really important now was being alert for this first soccer practice.

Shuuichi stood still for a few minutes, allowing his body to acclimate itself to the frigid temperature of the water as best it could. He then proceeded to lather his hair with fragrant shampoo, adding in conditioner after rinsing the last trace of shampoo from his head. After a minute or so of waiting, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his lower half. Although this shower had helped a bit to awaken him and heighten how alert he was, he could still feel his eyelids droop every few seconds, his breathing being interrupted often by long, drawn-out yawns.

So, at a tired pace, Shuuichi walked back out, grabbed a suitable outfit for casual wear, dressing quickly and heading back into the bathroom to dry his hair. He retrieved his blow dryer from the small cabinet space beneath the bathroom sink, rolling his eyes as memories flashed through his mind. He had decided to grow his hair out two years ago, and at that time, made a decision to use a blow dryer instead of doing what most boys did-- letting their hair air-dry. His roommate had been very amused, and had taunted him endlessly about how feminine it was to do such a thing all the way up until he had transferred schools. It had actually got sickening how much he went on about how feminine Shuuichi was, not that he really cared. Besides, the classification of being feminine because you had long hair was only a belief, a stereotype, if you wish.

Gently running a brush through his hair, Shuuichi checked the front and the back for tangles he might have missed. He didn't stop running the brush through his hair until each strand lay obediently where Kurama wished it to lay, until it was beautifully sleek and smooth, showing off the best color of crimson one could ever imagine. If there was one thing Shuuichi took pride in, it was his hair. He slaved over it endlessly sometimes to get it the way he wanted to look. Maybe his old roommate was right, maybe he was a little on the feminine side.

He turned and went t clean up the mess he had made last night. He had been so tired; he hadn't even bothered to clean up the mess of books, folders, and crumpled papers that had missed the wastebasket. He checked to be sure that every piece of paper containing his homework was there. With how hard he had worked on the assignments, he would have exploded had he reached any of his classes to find that he had happened to leave a sheet behind, or maybe have accidentally thrown it out with all the crumpled papers that contained half-written essays that he had started writing, and then found utterly horrible.

When he tucked the last of his books into the large schoolbag he liked to carry around and all the pieces of used paper had been discarded, Shuuichi moved on to the bed. What do you say? Shuuichi was a very neat person, by nature. It bothered him for some reason, seeing a bed that didn't have it's covered perfectly folded and it's pillows laid neat at the head of the bed. He had always had a problem with being a tiny bit of a perfectionist, with not only the order of things, but with schoolwork as well. That was part of the reason it took so long, he always redid everything he wrote at least once, wanting to make it as perfect as he possibly could. So, people said it was an unhealthy thing to do.

Often, people noticing these traits would mention to Shuuichi that it was okay to not to try to be perfect. The redhead certainly acknowledged that what they spoke was the truth, but he really couldn't help it. For some reason, it was almost addictive for Shuuichi to have a very neat and orderly lifestyle, filled with success. He HAD to have his bed nice and made, his schoolwork neat and without errors. His floor HAD to be free of any clutter what so ever. Most of all, his hair HAD to be neat and perfect, without tangles, knots, or frizz. His life may not be perfect, but there was nothing stopping him from trying to make his life as neat and orderly as it possibly could get. Besides, he wasn't doing to well anyways, so if he tried, he'd achieve success, right? Hiei was loads better than he was, and he didn't even seem to have any problems with doing it. Hiei was so perfect... How Shuuichi longed to be able to do things as easily as the older, black-haired boy.

He heard a knock at the door. Without responding, he went to straightening his room further. Eventually, after the knocking had persisted for thirty seconds, Shuuichi called, "Come in, the doors unlocked." A familiar, blue-haired schoolgirl burst in happily, smiling cheerfully.

"Hello Shuu-kun! How did you homework go last night?" Shuuichi turned to him with a tired expression; it answered it all for her. She gasped at the horrendous view of the dull emeralds, dull and bearing dark circles under the, from lack of sleep. He tried to smile at her halfheartedly, though.

"Shuu-kun! Heavens, how long did you stay up? Why are you out of bed, you should be in the nurse's office. Really, you look deathly ill!" She grabbed his arm after the sudden, worried outburst. Shuuichi wondered why the heck she was acting like this, he really didn't look that bad. After all, he'd seen the dark circles under his own eyes when he brushed his hair, obviously checking to make sure his hair looked nice in the mirror. He wasn't stupid, he knew that he had dark circles under his eyes and he looked tired. But certainly, he didn't look sick.

"I'm fine, Botan. I really didn't stay that late, I'll be fine." he glanced at the clock and added on to it. "Besides, I need to get going for this soccer practice in a few minutes, I don't have time to go to the nurses office. I really appreciate your concern, Botan, but contrary to what you say, I'm perfectly healthy." Botan didn't look as if she believed him, but she'd take his word for it. They were best friend. So if there were something wrong with him, she'd be the first one he talked to about it, right? She hoped so; it was hard for her to watch any friend of hers go through pain while she just sat on the sidelines, watching it happen.

"Are you absolutely sure, Shuu-kun? I'm pretty sure your coach wouldn't be angry with you if you were to just explain you situation Shuuichi shook his head and smiled his convincing, yet still masking the real feelings type smile. Somehow, it seems he had been able to trick Botan with his mask this time. That was a very rare feat, accounting that Botan had seen through just about every mask he'd ever put on. He just had to practice before soccer practice so he wouldn't look too stupid. He had a deep longing to win Hiei's love, and if he didn't sate it soon, he felt like he'd explode from the feeling.

"Botan, I'm perfectly fine. Stop worrying about me, okay?" he told her, in his most confident, reassuring voice. Botan nodded. She supposed that she believed him, but still... She had a feeling that Hiei had to do with Shuuichi's odd behavior as of late. She had never liked him much. It wasn't like Botan hated Hiei. She just saw him as a cold person who scared her.

The last time they had come face to face hadn't been under good terms. When she first found out that Shuuichi's crush had been the coldest boy in school, she had wanted to go and talk to Hiei about it. Like so may other people, she and the black haired boy hadn't gotten off on the best of terms. Their conversation had ended with Hiei threatening Botan. He had threatened her in quite a serious way too, mind you. Wouldn't you be scared of such a dangerous-seeming guy in Botan's place? A shiver ran down her spine as she thought back to their encounter. After that, she kept her distance. It made her wonder how Shuuichi could ever like in such an unattractive boy. Sure, he was extremely smart and athletic too, not to mention handsome, but his temper ruined it all so that nobody liked to be around him.

"Well, than, would you at least like some breakfast before you go. I know you must be hungry, if we grab a granola bar or something you could eat before practice begins," she suggested. It worried her to see what Shuuichi did next. He shook his head at the offer. It was something Shuuichi had never ever done before. He hadn't been a fanatic of eating, but he certainly ate three square meals a day, that was for sure!

"Come to think of it Botan, I'm not really that hungry this morning. It must just be because I ate quite late last night. Don't worry; I'll eat extra food to make up for it at lunch. You can even make sure, okay?" he said. His statement wasn't a lie, because he really wasn't hungry. Besides. He wanted to be able to practice during breakfast. If he wanted to really get good enough to be on this team, he would need to practice very hard. If he were to prove himself to Hiei, he needed to get as good as him and prove to Hiei that he'd be worth begin in a relationship with. He wouldn't be satisfied with what he had done until Hiei considered him worthy. Maybe it wasn't in character for him to say that, but he'd had a growing crush on Hiei for a very, very, long time now. It killed him inside to go past time, knowing that Hiei hated him, thinking that he would never be good for the 'perfect' Hiei. In his wildest dreams, Hiei would hold him close and kiss, him, loving him for who he was. Shuuichi was always striving to achieve that dream, even though it seemed to grow more distant of a possibility, day by day.

As Shuuichi headed out to the soccer field, he looked up at the rising sun. It was a very beautiful sight right now. Sure, he'd seen these kinds of things before, but he really appreciated how beautiful and calm it made him feel. The pretty pinks and blues blended together in a good portion, while a deep purple down near the end of the horizon line, the only thing left of the previous twilight. A light breeze rustled through the trees and picked up stray strands of crimson tresses. The redhead stopped and sniffed the crisp morning air in a very appreciating way. As he reached the soccer field, he spotted Hiei. Like last night, he was sitting in the bleachers, nose buried in that book of his. It made him wonder what he was reading, or even what language that it was written in. Soon enough he'd be able to talk to Hiei as casually as a friend might have, he swore it to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Me: Nehh... I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. On the bright side, I'm taking a keyboarding class to improve my accuracy and speen. Yahoo. This chapter sucks, but it's a chapter so long as I'm sane. Warnings and disclaimers all apply. Oh, and review, too.

----

As they quietly sat on the soccer field, Shuuichi quietly tried to fight away biting fatigue. He was not really all that happy to be up when he could be sleeping. As large as the homework load had been, he still shouldn't have been awake that late. Translation: he made too many mistakes. Shuuichi cursed it and began to wonder how Hiei was able to deal with it. Perfect, perfect, perfect! The word almost made Shuuichi sick. He tangled his fingers in his hair and gave a frustrated snort. His frustration faded away almost immediately as soon Hiei walked to the bleachers and sat down a little ways away from him. Once again, he was holding the mysterious book within his grasp.

As usual, Hiei's nose was buried within the pages of the odd, black book. He was clad in casual attire that made the redhead feel as if he'd faint. Hiei's main color had always been darker, and he was clad in nothing other than that this morning. He had baggy black jeans accented by a sleeveless black top that showed off his lean build slightly. Who knew someone could ever make such a plain-looking outfit look so good? So maybe Shuuichi always marveled the way the student looked, but you get the point. His attention turned to the book he was reading. He had been wondering about that book. From a quick glance he'd stolen from it yesterday, he was left all the more confused. Hiei read it as if it were Japanese, from right to left. What language was it written in?

A faint wind blew past as Shuuichi quietly stared down at his lap. It made him wonder sometimes. Why did he love Hiei so much? There was no reason for it at all. Quietly he placed a hand against his forehead and tried to remember it. However, he was only able to sense immense love for Hiei. He didn't know where it had come from or why it was so strong. It almost made him break down in tears at it. If it weren't for this… this curse he would be free from these chains and able to, succeed as he wished. He almost regretted it again because even if it tore his heart apart he still loved Hiei. Not only that, Hiei's sole presence could warm him up even more the intense heat. He couldn't imagine a life without chasing after Hiei.

A shrill wind picked up and blew past, the foreshadowing of an intense storm. It didn't seem like much of a big deal to any of the other players. They sat calmly on the benches waiting for practice to begin. On clasped a jacket around his body and shivered a little. After a minute of thinking, it occurred to him that teams practiced rain or shine. He remembered hearing about it. Youko approached as the rain started to soak the ground. He yelled over the wind to get all the boy's attention. Though most gave acknowledgement that they had heard, Hiei remained reading his book. Calmly, he flipped a page nonchalantly as Youko's eyes narrowed a fraction. The coach obviously didn't like to be ignored. "Hiei, I could always confiscate that book of yours. You aren't supposed to have it anyways. Unless, you're meaning to tell me that this is for your classes."

After another quick shout from, He closed his book and smirked. A gust of wind blew past again; catching the hat Youko was wearing and blowing it of about half a kilometer. He didn't seem to mind though; he shouted instructions over the roaring wind, warning them against slipping because of the rain. Shuuichi took one last glance at Hiei, lowering his head in an almost defeated matter. He already felt that Hiei wouldn't like him ever, but he felt the need to pretend so at least some stability would be promised. He just had the feeling that this was going to be a very long day.

After practice, Shuuichi remained. Though it was storming and there was almost no point in staying out, he wasn't going to allow himself to give up. It simply was not allowed. As luck would have it, Hiei went off to lurk somewhere else. He really didn't find it comfortable to play around Hiei. In fact, he was about ten times better at the sport when it could be assured that Hiei wasn't watching. He followed the ball around in a somewhat dejected manner, though. The shadows were dark, making him almost want to run from them. It wasn't that the dark scared him, but he kept getting the feeling that someone was watching him. It made him feel pathetic that he jumped and tensed the slightest sound, even if it had been one he knew he had made. Visions of stalkers ran through his mind and made him shudder. He felt so… exposed out here. Vulnerability wasn't a sensation he often took comfort in. The only time he felt comforted by such a feeling was when he knew Hiei was around. Hey, he knew that he might not be able to say that the boy was his real protector, but it could always be fun to pretend.

He turned to look around as the ball scattered off somewhere. His breathing grew slightly shallower at the idea of being watched. It just felt like he was being stalked, almost. Rain running down the sides of his face; he turned to look at the empty bleaches, a silent call for anyone hiding to reveal it. He jumped about two feet out of his skin when a figure materialized out of the shadows. He hadn't expected to see Hiei. He almost literally kicked himself at this. He really hadn't been like this until as of late. He'd never jumped in Hiei's presences of felt any need for fear or nervousness. It just wasn't like that. He used to be so calm. It almost made him wonder if he had some sort of mood disorder. He was oddly not himself, anyways, even with being in love with Hiei.

"What are you doing here?" his voice held quite some annoyance, but not much more than what could be considered normal. Shuuichi shrugged and did his best to turn casually so as to talk to him. To his surprise, he found it to be a lot easier today than it was usually. "Nothing really, I just decided to get some practice in while everyone else headed off to breakfast. I didn't expect to see you here so suddenly, though. What are you doing, then?"

Hiei shrugged off at the comment without replying. Though this way Hiei was acting quite rude in general towards him, Shuuichi didn't mind in the least. Yes, he may be out of it as of late, but there was nobody in the universe that could offend him with rudeness. Shuuichi just seemed to have a tolerance that belittled his age. Such young boys, even polite Japanese generally still had years to go before reaching that level of maturity. Anyways, why should he care about that? Hiei was rude to everyone, not just him. If it was a case that Hiei was only cruel to him, it may have been slightly different. It only reassured him that Hiei wasn't a creep just to him, that was in sense as good as having Hiei's trust and friendship.

"So I'll ask again, Hiei, why are you here? I didn't imagine that you really need extra practice. There're many other days you could choose, not one like this. Aren't you good enough to a point where the school practices suffice for you?" He could faintly hear Hiei sigh over the roar of wind and rain. He blinked curiously. Somehow, that single sound alone gave him the idea that he was actually going to say something civil to him for once. It made his heart pound with anticipation.

"I'm coming to ask if you want to come to breakfast. It's getting sickening about Youko voicing his worries about you. He thinks you need more sleep and you should really come to breakfast. I really agree with him on the notion that you'll freeze to death out here. Stop being an idiot and come. I'm not leaving until I've convinced you." Though the voice was cold and held little to no reassurance of real concern, Shuuichi was still practically jumping for joy at it. For once, he finally had witnessed a shred of proof that Hiei may care for him just slightly. Surprisingly because of this, a smile made its way across his lips, leaving a presence of its own. Hiei's sharp voice brought him back from his reverie. "Are you coming willingly, or am I going to have to drag you there?" Shuuichi barely heard the question. Without him willing it to happen a statement all its own slipped from his lips in place of the affirmative reply he had planned out.

"Yes. Do you really care for my well being so much as to drag me, though?" he immediately cursed himself for saying it, practically jumping again because Hiei replied back without any reason to. "Hn. Don't flatter yourself. I just got sick of everyone saying you'd catch your own death. They're all cowards, not choosing to come out here and ask you to come in themselves." He snorted and walked closer to Shuuichi as lightning streaked across the sky dangerously. He could sense the mood Hiei was in, not wanting to have to resort to forceful measures to bring him inside. He could vaguely feel the rain soaking him to the bone, running in thick drops down his cheeks almost like tears would. He lowered his head slightly and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Hiei... his only real wish was to be with him. What had he done wrong to make it so that it hurt so much, though. He almost cursed love. It hurt him horribly to see someone who could never reciprocate his love. His hand involuntarily traveled up to his chest and clutched his it. He only wished for this to go away. Slowly, he nodded in Hiei's direction, a sign that he was going to go with him.

"At least you're cooperating. I was thinking you were going to go and be all defensive about it" was his reply. Shuuichi feebly shook his head and locked down almost in shame. If it weren't for Hiei, he repeated to himself he'd live a lot more normal a life. He wouldn't bee in too many advanced courses to handle and he wouldn't have made himself commit to this. An awkward silence passed between them as neither spoke. Once again, Shuuichi looked down, feeling a deep urge to run away.

"Come on! I want to get edible food as much as you want to." Complying with Hiei's orders, he followed along without protest. He walked with a slightly stiff posture. While Hiei went off a few feet ahead, he still lingered behind, following reluctantly. He cast a wistful gaze towards Hiei and then turned it away, ashamed fully. Unless he was out to get his heart broken, he should simply forget about his dreams. He was being no less conspicuous about his feelings than if he was specifically trying to get attention. A broken heart was one thing that he did not want to suffer from. It always came back to haunt you years later. It felt as if the yearning would be unbroken, even by the passage of many years. He didn't notice, but of to the side, a dark figure watched the two, silent and unobtrusive.

He sat at the breakfast table long afterwards, pushing his food around on his plate without the slightest interest whatsoever. Botan and surprisingly, Hiei currently accompanied him here. His excuse was that he was tired and all the other people he sat with had been annoying. Botan was staring at him as if he was some type of monster out of a horror flick. Hiei didn't seem bothered in the slightest by this. "Shuu-kun, are you alright? Thee soft voice jolted him out of a death-like stupor. He turned quietly to Botan and gave a soft yawn in doing so. He face was line with worry, even though she knew he was in no mood to concern himself with it currently. "Please eat, Shuu-kun. I know you aren't hungry, but you could at least eat a little. It isn't healthy; you'll end up getting even sicker. He took a few dispassionate sips of miso soup. It just didn't peak any hunger for him today. He turned himself to the dried fish Botan had set out on his plate and gave them a few nibbles. Botan had really saved him some of the better tasting fish today, but he still could care less. After a quick glance at the soup, he found that he lost his appetite.

"Shuu-kun, are you alright. Perhaps you should go to the infirmary." Her voice pleaded with him, but he held his head and put out a hand to stop her from lecturing. A groan passed slightly, repercussion of a pounding headache. He really couldn't let himself skip classes today. He'd be even more stressed with the work load, then." I'm fine, Botan. It's just a little headache." He waved her off and went back to staring absently at the liquid set in his bowl. A minute later, he buried his head in his arms while groaning again.

"Shuuichi! Don't pretend that you aren't yourself. If you aren't going to go to the infirmary you'll at least lie down in your room for a few minutes. C'mon I'll walk you" her voice was exasperated and almost frustrated. As she tried to pull the boy to his feet, soft protests were issued. Botan tugged with all her might but Shuuichi clung firmly to the chair, causing it to slide forwards. This was enough to send Botan off balance. She went flying to the ground below, an angry scowl implanted on her features. Shuuichi still protested that he was fine when Botan stood on her feet again and tried to pull him up. Hiei stopped her, a hand parting both Shuuichi and her. Both gazes turned over to the black clad boy. Wordlessly, he pulled Shuuichi to his feet and ushered him away soundlessly. Botan could only stand frozen back at the table, shocked by the sudden course of action.

Hiei hissed as he literally dragged Shuuichi back to his dormitory, through the empty hallways past a few classrooms. Some bewildered teachers stared. At some point, Shuuichi had given up fighting it. He allowed himself to be guided by Hiei while he was left to ponder on Hiei's actions. His breath caught his throat as Hiei pulled him close when they rounded a corner. His jade orbs blinked curiously up at the expressionless face for a moment, lost from his original purpose. He only cursed the dizziness, which seemed to be growing by the moment. It was not longer even fatigue.

His head spun, making him feel as if he'd be sick. Fighting nausea and a growing numbness in his limbs. He fought to focus his vision. Hiei's image faded in and out, blurred by cloudy vision. Again, he groaned, something more to get Hiei's attention. It didn't seem like the other boy cared much about it, though. He still pulled him along at an uncomfortable pace. His grip on him made Shuuichi wince through the nausea. He felt like the circulation in his arms had been caught off. When he tried to stray from the grasp, he was jerked back with amazing forth. He settled slightly and allowed to be led by Hiei.

He was much to dazed to be able to focus on anything other than taking shaky steps. In the back of his head, he wondered why he was doing this. Hiei was actually doing an incredibly kind thing, leading him back to the room. He sensed that Hiei had knowledge of his nausea and dizziness. Of course, he probably was stumbling around in a stupor already, so the dizziness wasn't all that hard to pick up on. His limbs were going numb and he felt like he could vomit. He almost felt sure that Hiei knew these two things. Somehow, he felt Hiei wouldn't really care if he even threw up on him right now. He could sense the boy's urgency and irritation; however, he felt that there was an odd compassion to this side, too. There wasn't any hint of loathing he was able to pick up on right now.

It had seemed like an eternity since they had left the breakfast table, and they still hadn't reached the dormitory. Shuuichi felt ready to collapse. His limps were now like lead whenever he tried to move them. It was now more like Hiei was dragging him towards some punishment rather than simply leading him to his dormitory. When he felt himself fall into soft material, he finally felt relief. There he was, back in his own dormitory. He wanted to keep his eyes open, even if they felt like lead.

He wanted to thank Hiei, but most of all; he wanted to question Hiei as to why he had helped him out like this. Warmth was overpowering, not to mention and overpowering voice, lulling him to sleep. It simply repeated one word again and again. Now at this point, even Shuuichi felt that he was delirious. He didn't know whether it was a figment of his imagination or if it was really Hiei. Heck, he wasn't even able to make out what it really was saying. It just simply seemed like a lullaby in some ancient language. Wistful and comforting, the voice brought back all the fatigue he had been feeling earlier magnified about ten times more. Something about it brought warmth. So warm and for once, feeling secure, he felt like drifting off to sleep. He promised himself to only listen to the voice for a few more minutes before allowing sleep to claim him. That, however, never happened darkness and unconsciousness took him immediately after that, his only last thought being focused upon Hiei, and the image of him smiling warmly.

Hiei sat on the side of the bed where Shuuichi had automatically chosen to curl up on. He sighed, finally glad that the boy had fallen asleep. The original reason he had taken Shuuichi from the breakfast table was because he was getting sick of hearing the girl and him fight. It was just about the most brainless argument he had ever seen in his life. Casually, he looked back over at the sleeping form next to him. His quiet breathing calmed him for some reason. For the fist time in the time he had known Shuuichi, the boy looked calm. He didn't think that there was any other time that he had seen the redhead like this. It was always slightly odd. From what people always said, Shuuichi's expression was just about the most emotionless, stoic, and calculating looks that he could ever wear. However, it contradicted what he always saw. Every time he and Shuuichi came face to face, the boy's expression was inexorably twisted and insane looking he had ever seen. The way the redhead looked at him made it look like he had personality disorders of sorts. He saw a twist of insanity, irony, and self-loathing all mixed together in one glance. This young boy was such an odd person to figure out. He didn't truly know what to really think about him. It was hard to pass judgment on him. With a sigh, he blinked. What an odd person, indeed.

Casually, without much thought, he brushed his fingers across pale cheeks. The skin felt soft and smooth under his rough touch, almost seeming to be silk. Again, without much thought, he ghosted his touch further down, brushing his neck and combing his fingers through the crimson mane for a quick moment. Completely despite his nature, he leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on the cheek he had been previously caressing. Such soft flesh felt warm under his lips, giving him indistinct warmth in his own chest.

Within a moment, he had drawn away, cursing himself for allowing emotions to get the better of him, especially something such as lust. No matter how hard he tried, though, there was nothing to stop him from kissing the redhead further. It really didn't feel like he was doing this. All that he was able to feel was a faint sensation, tickling his with the odd new warmth. Silently, his lips hovered over the unconscious man's. He had to restrain himself so that he didn't dive down and ravage the boy one the spot. Stealing the boy's first kiss was out of the question, guessing that Shuuichi had ever been in a close enough relationship for that to ever happen. Besides, there was a likely chance of being found out for it later. He'd be a laughingstock if he kissed a boy, much less, the most attractive one in school that just so happened to be young, delicate, and pretty innocent. People would accuse him of being a sadist. Sighing, he quickly threw a blanket over Shuuichi and went towards the door. He couldn't help but turn back to look at the boy, faintly touching his lips, still warm from the sensation of kissing Shuuichi's cheek. Sneering angrily at another thought, he turned and walked out, door slamming behind him.

So, classes past in a boring manner for Hiei. After explaining to the nurse in the infirmary about Shuuichi, he had gone to classes as he would have normally. He really hated classes, in a way. The pace was slightly slow for his preferences and the subjects were much too easy. Every day, though, he was reminded angrily of it, that he'd never make it in the working world without collage. This meant that without proper reassurance that he did indeed know the subjects, there was no way that he'd be able to ensure that he passes his exams for collage. Today was a rather odd day. His mind kept wandering back to Shuuichi. He kept getting the odd feeling that he was forgetting something, something pertaining to Shuuichi's safety. It was a really odd feeling of foreboding because there was no way that he was in any way in danger. There was only one person in danger… that girl with the set of red eyes, matching his exactly.

He felt a strong pang at his heart unlike anything else. Yukina. Years ago, she had been kidnapped. Hiei didn't even want to think about it. Those cruel men who had captured her angered him more than anything else in the entire world. She, being his twin sister, had been very close to him. He was devastated when it happened. The events leading up to it was something he didn't like to think about. It was all so clear to him, what he needed to do in order to get her back. All he needed to do was track down those guys again and then they'd all be dead. However, they disappeared only a half a year ago. The only clue they had given him was what they wanted in exchange for Yukina. This was one thing he wasn't able to give them and the sole reason why the police were unable to rescue her when they tried.

No matter how hard he could try, there was no way he could give it up. They requested many things, the biggest being the permission for them to take his own life and the life of the one closest to him as a fair exchange. Of course, it was not at all fair. Not only did they require the first, but a lot of bloodshed too. It wasn't his own life that he was concerned about. In fact, he would've gladly given up his life for Yukina's. He owed her a lot, and it was no reward to let he sit rotting away in their hold, if there was even the slightest chance that she was alive. He banged his fists on the desk and swore loudly and in doing so, snapping himself harshly back to reality. He was met with the harsh and irritated gaze of his language teacher, glaring daggers at him. "Yasuda-kun, if you're unable to focus in my class, I suggest you leave. Out in the hallway. Now."

With an irritated sigh, he headed out the door while the class stared wide-eyed, still startled from the outburst. This is why he hated classes. He sighed angrily and pushed his back against the cool wall, breathing deeply while trying to regain control. His head was a jumble of emotions, anger and desperation being the most prominent. He felt another urge to go see Shuuichi, and seeing as he wasn't going to have to listen to the teacher lecture afterwards. He wasn't worried because he always got sent out in the hall in that class. The teacher never wanted to see him afterwards; so the words 'go out in the hall' were practically a free invitation to do as he pleased, so long as he didn't get caught doing it. He slipped away quickly and soundlessly, heading in the general direction of the boy's dormitories.

On the way, he ran into someone. Rather, someone ran into him with surprising force. Annoyance coursing through him, he was just about to yell at the jerk who did it. "Shimokawa?" He asked curiously, studying the teary eyed schoolgirl's face. Botan looked like she was about to burst into tears. "What the hell's wrong with you?" he asked, irritated by the whiny nature.

"Shuu—Shuuichi's missing."

xxxxxx

Me: Yeah, I'm guessing you'll say that really really sucked and it's too fast paced. Truth is, I guess it is. But I slaved over it for two days just to get it done and I'm hoping for reviews.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Chapter 5_**

Rain pattered across the ground. Soaking the ground of a field lightly. Awakening, Shuuichi blinked. It took a few moments for him to fully understand where exactly he was. For a moment, he allowed his eyes to flick back shut. With trouble, he tried to summon why he felt so relaxed. Memories trickled back to him in an unnaturally slow manner. He could only think back to Hiei sitting next to him on the corner of his bed in his dormitory while an ancient lullaby drifted past their ears.

Coming to think of it, he knew it hadn't been Hiei singing. It was just crazy to think that he'd be doing something that loving for him. As it stood, he didn't believe Hiei knew any ancient languages. The closest thing would be the language that the strange book was written in. Somehow, though, he felt that it wasn't the case. It had almost sounded something like he'd imagine that strange language to be in that book he was reading for English. What was that language called again? Oh, yes, Elvish. He frowned at how difficult it had been to simply collect a simple memory. A haze hung over his brain impeding his ability to think clearly. Getting back to his original point, the language had been much too whimsical to seem remotely human. He tried to recall the words, but he simply was unable to do it. All he felt like doing now was going back to sleep. More problems hanging on the horizon kept him wide awake. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there. Briefly, he had considered it to be a dream. No matter how odd it seemed, everything was much to real to be any dream.

He found himself frozen when he tried to move his limbs. Not only were his muscles completely numb, but bound as well. It took him a minute to figure out that there was also a cloth drawn tightly around his mouth as well. He willed himself to speak out despite how hard he tried. About when he was ready to give everything up, he heard a voice speak out, directed at him. "You can't move, can you?" the feminine alto asked his. Flicking his eye suddenly to the side. A young girl sat right next to his head. She wasn't tied either. He narrowed his eyes to slits as best as he could. How she looked, he automatically assumed she was the enemy. He studied her curiously. She was rather pale, clad in an unadorned kimono. She looked young, yet still womanly at the same time. Sliding a hand across his forehead, she frowned and wiped it on her kimono sleeve.

"You've got a horrible fever, and you're sweating. I'm beginning to wonder if they're intentional on killing you with this drug." She then slipped he hand to the artery on his neck to check his pulse. Her frown increased. Not angry at all, she held a concerned aura about her. He was still studying her face in wonder. Her eyes were of the oddest color, a color completely unique in itself. He only knew one person who had the same eyed. Deep crimson orbs burned themselves in his mind. She patted his shoulder sympathetically. "Poor thing, I wonder how you got dragged into this." He was now beginning to consider her to be the enemy. But then who was she? He was upset that he was unable to ask her any questions.

"Yasuda, what were you doing? I thought I told you not to go near him. You don't want to be tied up too, do you?" Yukina looked up quickly to a brown haired man who had just walked up. Shuuichi could sense her fear as she bowed low to the ground. "Gomen, Kurada-san. It must have slipped my mind." With that, she left the two alone. Shuuichi watched her go wordlessly. What he had just heard still had yet to click in his mind. Kurada knelt down next to him, and did as the other girl had done. His hand quickly grazed over his wrist to check his pulse and went up to his forehead to check his temperature. He didn't have any sympathy like the girl had. Instead, he smirked, ruffling his hair. He really didn't like this guy all that much. He looked at his eyes. This man's irises were colored an odd shade of magenta.

A silence passed, in which the man set next to Shuuichi. Out of the blue, he said something completely random. "You might not want to try to move. I'm supposed to give you more of this drug if I see it," he commented quietly. He brought a syringe into Shuuichi's view, making sure that he was able to see it well. Quietly, he waited for the man to speak. This was his only source of information, even if it was from the enemy. He shivered slightly from the cold night's air.

"You see, it's as paralyzing drug, a depressant. Like I said, you had better watch yourself, as I said. The drug's strong, and if you're given an overdose, you could easily die from heart failure. That's why you're so out of it now, we had to give you a generous dose so there isn't a chance you'll surprise us." He informed, his tone cool and emotionless. It made Shuuichi almost shudder, the very nature how he said it. He tried to give Kurada the most questioning look he was able to muster at a time like this. He was able to perceive it easily, understanding what he was trying to ask.

"Mind you, I'm not telling you this for beneficial purposes. I was just ordered to warn you before you do something drastic. Come to think of it, don't worry about you own life, its Yasuda Hiei and his sister you should worry about. One wrong move from any of you will cost all of you dearly." Shuuichi gave him an incredulous look. Sniper laughed at it. The very tone he had spoken this in sounded like he almost… knew.

"Do you really think I didn't know about this, Koizumi? It's my duty to keep an eye on Hiei. Don't tell me you think that your pining is so well hidden someone could turn such a blind eye to it." This almost made Shuuichi cringe. Actually, he decided that it was most likely that he would've had his entire body not been numb. Was it really so obvious that people could tell? He felt a slow flow of blood move past his cheeks. Though it wasn't as noticeable as if he had regular blood flow, the blush on his cheeks was really quite obvious.

He looked briefly at Shuuichi again before rubbing a hand roughly across his cheek in a frightening matter. It was a gesture that told Shuuichi that the worst was most likely to come soon. "He'll be coming for you and Yukina, though. Yasuda is much to obsessed with his sister's safety to turn it down. You're just an added bonus. We may not be sure if Hiei will even care if you're gone or not, but it will make it all the better if he is." He shivered lightly, still cold from the night air. It was making his nerve endings all the more numb. With a roll of his eyes, he took off his jacket and laid it over Shuuichi's body. He felt heat practically radiating of the form while he shivered. His fever must be really bad. He looked up to the sky, kept in reality by the faint chatter of the boy's teeth in the background.

Hiei was back at the campus still kneeling in the room. He was sure Shuuichi hadn't been stupid enough to run away. Botan was keeled over, a complete and utter mess. He rolled his eyes while she sobbed, screaming all the possibilities of what may have happened. Somehow, rape, starvation, injury and death all seemed quite likely to him. However, the signs pointed to one thing, and it was one thing that he preferred the least. He'd just have to head back to his own room to confirm something. Botan was still shrieking, and it was only a lucky chance that none of the teachers had taken notice. He'd managed to drag her somewhere out of earshot of students and teachers. Now he paced, cursing himself for letting the defiant signals that it may happen go unnoticed. He looked back to the mess of a girl curled in a fetal position at his feet. She cared too much for her friend and most likely had an anxiety disorder. He snorted and grabbed her wrist.

"Calm yourself, women. If you keep acting like this, your friend's fate will be sealed. If you can just shut up and move maybe you'll have enough sense to make a plan to help Koizumi." The girl growled and snatched her hand out of his grip, sitting up long enough to give him a harsh punch in the chest. Her tears scattered and she hurriedly brushed them away. Keeping herself in a sitting position, she replied in a harsh voice.

"You don't know anything about Shuuichi! You don't even care about him!" he growled at her words. She surely spoke correctly in the fact that he really didn't know all that much about Shuuichi. Her last statement was a question of whether or not he really did care. Hell, he barely knew Shuuichi but he still felt in a way responsible for him. He'd met Shuuichi a few years ago, but hadn't cared to get to know him. After all, most of the students here weren't all that concerned with trying to really make friends with him. Why should the redhead be any exception to the rule? All he'd ever had was girls feeding him crap about sincerely wanting to date with him. Always, it was because people claimed that he was attractive. Every single day he made sure that he made up for it by being as cruel to people that crossed his path as possible.

He sighed and turned to face the window. The girl who was sobbing didn't seem to notice the lack of attention he paid to her. She was really, genuinely worried. He saw why she was given reason to. He was gone without a trace or a clue to where he may have gone. He wouldn't have been anywhere other than here if he truly were on campus. Shuuichi was a strong person, but he had been pretty weak from exhaustion earlier. He was so tired to a point that Hiei easily believed that he hadn't got any sleep at all the night before. He could remember seeing how quickly Shuuichi fell to the comfort of the bed, his head resting softly on the pillow, as he lay curled up waiting for sleep to claim him. In that moment, Hiei had sensed an odd harmony between them. The silence had almost wanted to make him curl up next to Shuuichi and sleep as well. However, he had chosen to give the boy solitude not even a few minutes later/

He looked down and grabbed Botan's wrist, dragging her off in the direction of the boy's dormitories, near where Shuuichi's was located. After pulling the unlocked door open, he threw the girl inside and slammed the door shut behind him. Botan looked around almost eagerly, as if hoping to see Shuuichi kneeling on the ground doing a homework assignment. Sadly, to her dismay, there was no such sight to be found. Hiei looked around carefully for any evidence hinting towards a sign of a possible struggle. He hadn't locked the door behind him when he left that morning, thinking that Shuuichi would be okay alone.

To really be truthful, he never locked his door. The students here were all mild-mannered and made sure that they kept to themselves. There was never a case where he had heard of anyone entering someone's dormitory without permission. It was unheard of, especially in most citizens of Japanese descent. He took slow and careful strides toward the bed. The covers were pulled back, unkempt and messy. He had made sure that Shuuichi was covered up before he had left the room. This, however, lacked much of the little that Hiei knew about the redhead's personality. He knew defiantly that Shuuichi was a very neat person, almost a perfectionist. He began to look around the folds of blanket for any other type of evidence. Though his suspicion was low that he would find anything here, it always paid off to check.

A flash of white caught his eye very suddenly caught his eye as he turned over the sheets. Even Botan saw it as the object fluttered to the ground. She had stopped crying only a few moments ago. Quietly, he went to pick it up. Brining it closer to his gaze, he found out that it was a sheet of plain while paper, folded into quarters. He snarled softly and opened it up. Botan made her way over to him and took a look at it. Botan took careful steps towards Hiei, curiosity fluttering. She squinted as she approached. The language was rather… odd. She could barely recognize what it was; though she knew it must be some language at least loosely based off of Latin. Of course, Hiei must've been able to read it perfectly. He immediately headed towards the door, a look of complete and utter disbelief on his face.

The only thing that stopped him was Botan grabbing on to him softly. She still looked concerned and most of all, very clueless. "I'm going to get your friend back, okay, Shimokawa? Are you going to allow me that, or are you just going to make me stand here all night until Koizumi's dead?" He roughly jerked away from her grip. Automatically, the woman looked down, her expression a mix of fear, uncertainty, and shame. He sighed in an annoyed fashion, making her shrink away from him automatically. Hiei paid no mind to it. For him, such a thing was actually quite common. He was about to go without saying anything else to her when she stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Yasuda-senpai, please be careful. You'll bring back Shuuichi alive, won't you?" she asked him in a voice softer before. She was saying this as a plea now, begging for him to help in the seemingly impossible situation. He could see why Shuuichi always stayed around her so much. Though it didn't seem like it, she was an extremely good friend to Shuuichi. She and the redhead had become an almost inseparable pair. Everyone knew that they weren't anything much more than friends. They were much to alike for a relationship to ever work out.

"So long as you make sure that the teachers don't know that I'm gone, I'll promise you. I swear that if you don't keep your mouth shut, though he'll die of you say the slightest word to anyone about our disappearance." He could clearly see Botan shiver at his threat. He really wasn't planning on killing Shuuichi, but it was something that would certainly ensure that she kept her mouth shut. If he did this quickly, he could be in and out with Shuuichi before it was time for everyone to be back in their own dormitories. Maybe if he was lucky he could help Yukina.

"Just bring back Shuuichi safe, and I won't say anything." She replied. Hiei nodded, waved, and ran off. He had and exact idea of their location. He had thought that they left Japan, but seeing as they had just taken Kurama, he was now able to pinpoint an exact location.

Darkness flowed over the sky a few hours later, rumbling threateningly. Rain had already pelted the two sitting under the sky. While Shuuichi lay weakly, shivering violently under the cover to the odd man's coat, the other man sat calmly under the tree as a light rain drizzled down.

"Any time, Koizumi-kun. I'd suspect that your Hiei would be here within a few minutes. Due by the rate he figures things out, I bet you he figured it out just a little while ago. Shuuichi kept absolutely still, even though he could feel slight sensation beginning to return to him numbed nerve endings. He didn't want Kurada to follow through with his plans of injecting more of the depressant into his blood stream. He had been right in what he claimed earlier. Overdose could be fatal, dangerous of causing something such as brain damage or heart failure. Again, he felt his temperature being checked again. The sensation of the man's hand jolted his entire mind to reality. It felt so cold against his skin, and he could feel a thick veil of sweat being brushed aside as his fingertips traveled across his forehead.

"Your fever's gotten worse and you're shivering more." He noted aloud to nobody in particular. "Wouldn't it be quite pathetic for you to die this way." After this comment, he brushed a hand across the boy's forehead, sweeping back bangs and then coming to comb through the long red hair.

"You know, this'll be quite a shame if you die. It isn't like you really deserve it. I always hated having to kill an innocent, too." He whispered softly. Out of the corner of his eye, Shuuichi caught a dark black blur. In his mind, it didn't quite register with him. Briefly, he saw Hiei knock the man against the tree. His eyes widened a fraction in disbelief. Never in his life had he expected Hiei to come. He thought that the other man had just been trying to get his hopes up. In another blur, the other man seized his body. He felt him undo the rope that bound his body together. With the bonds gone now, his body feel completely limp within the strong grip. Briefly, he also felt the needle from the syringe break his flesh. He groaned at it in disregard.

"Let him go, Sniper," was all that he heard from an enraged growl that Hiei gave. His mind was beginning to fog again from the poison. There was no way now that he could've become any more vulnerable. He could feel Sniper's hands combing playfully through his hair as his grip on staying conscious loosened slightly.

"Really, Hiei, it is a shame he has to die. He's such a pretty thing, isn't he?"

It was the last thing he heard before it fatigue finally took control of his stupor. As his eyes slid shut he could see nothing but darkness.

XXXXXXX

Me: Sorry that seemed a little bit rushed. As it has been, I am extremely busy. Not to mention, I am now taking karate and volunteering at an animal shelter. Again, I will try to update A.S.A.P. Most likely, I will update next week, at latest week after next. Good evening to all of you and you're reminded that reviews are always well appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

No matter how much Shuuichi tried to focus his brain, his mind kept straying. He could feel two forces pulling at him, as if in an enraged battle. One sent his head spinning, giving him a nauseating sensation. The other was something he could only barely recognize; death. All he wanted now was to drift into a world of unconsciousness again. He could feel light pressing at the corners of his eyes, but he didn't want to know anything yet. After all, he wasn't even aware of his surroundings, even though he felt surprisingly warmer than he had earlier. A groan passed his lips as a voice called out to him, as if wanting to coax him somewhere. He could feel a gentle touch against his forehead again, perking his curiosity. He felt a name pass his lips, yet wasn't able to remember whom it belonged to. Blinking pink eyes came into view as he blearily forced himself to focus. He felt disappointment well up within him for a moment. The individual he'd been thinking about… she wasn't that person.

"Shuuichi, thank goodness!" he heard her sign out in relief. He blinked and tried to survey his surroundings. He was no longer in a raining forest. He was lying on a soft bed of warm material. The room was not his own, from what he could tell. No sunlight passed through a window slightly off to his left, signaling that it had become late and the sun had already set. His memories seemed out of reach for now, only because his mind was clouded. Pain pounded at his temples as he slowly searched for the source of light that he had first spotted. A lamp was shining a little ways away. He grunted to his friend, making sure she understood that he was basically asking 'Where in the world am I?' He could distantly her laugh and brush her fingertips against the skin of his forehead. Briefly, he winced in pain from it.

"God, Shuuichi, I thought that you were going to die. If Yasuda-senpai hadn't…" she stopped herself short, surveying the expression on his pale face. He had only just remembered about Hiei. What had happened? He couldn't remember anything after Hiei coming and yelling at his captor about something or the other. He shivered slightly at the thought. Another question came to his head. How much school had he missed. Certainly, all his teachers would be suspicious. How had he survived? He couldn't imagine that the dosage he'd been given on drugs wasn't anything aside from fatal. This defied every rule in the book. What had happened to cause this? He was a student, a good one. He wasn't supposed to be caught up with the wrong crowd. His mother wouldn't approve and not only that, it could ruin his chances for a good collage in the future. He'd spend his life at a bad job, only to disappoint his highly expectant mother. Botan simply blinked at him, a worried look embedded deep within her eyes.

Suddenly, he felt a whole lot worse, almost to a point where he literally wanted to be sick. Hiei… Hiei… the name slowly swirled around his mind. His foggy vision only grew more because of this. It hurt his head badly just to think. There was still a part of him that defied his wishes though, clouding his mind with random thoughts, many of which being thoughts that didn't make any sense to him whatsoever. Faintly, he could sense another presence. With the passing of time fatigue only grew. He wanted to be alone and simply sleep. However, he already could sense that neither presence was willing to honor this small wish.

"Shimokawa-chan, perhaps you should go to bed. If anyone catches you here, we'll all be in trouble. You wouldn't want to stress 'Shuu-kun' would you?" Both sets of eyes, emerald and magenta tracked towards the source of the pessimistic voice. Hiei sounded as annoyed as ever. Botan nodded slightly while still clinging to the limp form of a redhead protectively. Shuuichi watched as she bit her lip softly, chewing at it in a nervous fashion. She inclined her head, bowing politely. She received no such polite gesture back. "Thanks a lot for everything, Yasuda-senpai. I apologize for intruding." As she was approaching the door Hiei spoke back to her.

"Don't be thanking me. I only did this because it was an obligation. If you say one word to me again, I could always slit you throat." He said rudely. Even Shuuichi winced at the tone. Botan once again bowed and gave a last farewell to Shuuichi before shutting the door quickly. They could both hear her footfall for a few moments before it faded away. He tried to sit up, but Hiei walked over and forced him back down, giving a halfhearted glare. He looked tired and it was only then that Shuuichi realized that he was the one who occupied the bed Hiei should have. The place where another bed should've rested was empty; hinting that Hiei had his own dorm like he did.

"I'm fine Hiei. I just need to get back to my own bed. I'm being a burden." He swung his feet off the edge of the bed with the most intention to stand. Again, Hiei forced him back.

"You're staying here until you're well again. You'll end up losing your life if you get taken like that again. Besides, you can't even think for yourself, let alone walk more than three feet." Kurama looked slightly disheartened at this. Instead of pulling himself back under the covers of the bed, he remained in a sitting position, hugging his knees to his chest. His eyes flickered slightly before dying back down and turning to gaze at the student who had rescued him. Hiei looked almost expectant, as if he knew something.

The thought of 'knowing something' brought back recent memories. It stabbed at his pride, the thought of Hiei knowing what he generally kept secret. That Sniper man had known, so why wouldn't Hiei know? He felt the urge to be sick, and to fall back unconscious. The awkward silence passing between them currently made him cringe more than Hiei's angered tone ever could. He felt unnaturally shy towards Hiei right now.

"Why do you care? It's something that seems new for you." Shuichi replied despondently. At this point, he didn't really care about how he sounded around Hiei. He was in such a confused state that he wanted to simply lie in his own bed and forget it all. Besides, why should Hiei really care at all? Didn't he think that he was a show off? The words Hiei had spoken to him before came back to him with painful detail. Hiei shouldn't care because he didn't know Shuuichi all that well. Shuuichi knew Hiei well because of the desire to learn more about his crush. However, it was one of those instances where it doesn't work on the other side. Hiei had never, and in Shuuichi's opinion, would most likely never reciprocate feelings that he had harbored for a long time now.

"I want answers, Koizumi. It's all as simple as that. Tell me, why were you calling for me constantly while you were asleep. Your friend Shimokawa didn't seem to want to explain it to me." Shuuichi felt himself tense at this question. It was like his worst nightmare unfolding before his eyes. If his secret were to be discovered, he'd be ruined. Not only that, but Hiei would never even glance in his direction again. He tried to think up a logical answer to excuse the behavior.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was your name you heard. I mean I know I talk in my sleep, but I never make any sense. Botan can cover for me. Whatever I said in my sleep, it was certainly not your name." Though his voice was still hoarse and raspy, he was wearing his regular mask. Unless someone had Botan's state of mind, they would never see through his façade. It was simply impossible. He was the best liar at Meiou Boarding School hands down. To his surprise, the boy sitting in front of him looked very skeptical of what he had just said. He felt a bead of sweat run down his neck. The suspense of being around Hiei seemed to be compromising his ability to lie. There was no way he could let his secret leak out, though. This was more forbidden then running away and quitting high school.

"Somehow, I don't believe that. You see; I did talk to Shimokawa about it. She isn't as good of a liar as you. I can defiantly tell you that she's keeping something from me. Shuuichi, I don't like it when people lie to me. Despite the fact that you're a good liar, I still don't like it. Had I not talked to your friend, I may still have remained clueless. So, go ahead, lie all you want. I will find a way to figure out what the hell it is. I already do have a suspicion already, so you better hurry before I draw my own conclusions."

The redhead tentatively scooted father away from Hiei. His palms were slippery with sweat while he felt the urge to run away. He just had to keep reminding himself that there was no way in the world that Hiei could ever find out his secret. Right now, Hiei seemed closer than ever to achieving such a feat. He shook his head and gave a weak laugh as another attempt at shaking the boy off. Even Shuuichi knew that this was highly pathetic. He flushed slightly in embarrassment. Cursing to himself, he questioned as to why he wasn't even acting slightly like he should. Hiei was not that stupid, he'd figure it out if he kept up like this. The truth of it hit the redhead hard. For the first time in the redhead's life, he realized he was pretty much cornered without much else to do. All the ideas dried up as he looked down in shame. No matter how much he wanted to keep this secret, he was going to have to face the facts sooner than he'd expected the he'd have to.

"Hiei, why do you really want to know so much? It isn't your place to interfere." He replied, practically resigned to the fact that most likely he'd be loosing his chance at a relationship with Hiei within a few minutes. To his surprise, Hiei looked confused slightly by the question he had asked. While the dark haired male contemplated it for a moment, Shuuichi made his move for escaped. His attempt at standing, though, was immediately thrashed by a burning pain in his side. Hurriedly, he lowered himself back to the most comfortable sitting position possible. Hiei simply gave him a glare out of the corner out of his eye while managing to occupy the majority of his gaze with a small brown speck on the ceiling.

"Shuuichi, it isn't so much that I care about _you. _I just have my reasons of needing to know. As I said, you don't have to answer, because I seem to have a talent for drawing my own conclusions. I simply thought that it might be fairer if I got your feedback firsthand. " Shuuichi lowered his head even more after hearing this. Yes, you _want _to know, but do you _need _to know was his question. He had only barely restrained himself from actually screaming it out at Hiei. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he made a whish deep in his heart that he could be transported somewhere else right now.

However, the boy sitting only a few feet away from him was still looking expectant. He desperately looked for one last way out of this. His heart, his brain, and all of the instincts he'd ever had were screaming 'no' at the idea of confessing his feelings so early on. After all, his plan was to develop a relationship between him and Hiei before he chose the right time to talk about it. This time was certainly not the right time that was for sure. Oh why did these types of things always have to happen to him at the wrong time? Couldn't he have a lucky break with Hiei just this once? He almost began to panic. The only thing that was keeping him on the edge of sanity was Hiei's curious gaze. That in itself though, almost made him want to simply go on a rampage.

"Hiei… I don't understand why you're so intent upon knowing the truth about me. After all, I know I don't amount to much within your view. I am asking you this one thing before I do explain it to you "You see… over the few years since I met you, I really have grown attached to you." As if on cue, he lost all will and all ability to speak. Though he opened and closed his mouth many times in desperation nothing came out. Once again, he felt that he was on the brink of panic, of breaking down right in front of Hiei. He did not like having to divulge his feelings so quickly like this without even being able to willingly do it. It made him feel so sick to his stomach that he wanted to cry. The demanding glare urged him to continue, despite his obvious discomfort. Nothing could make him feel worse than the way that Hiei looked at him right then and there.

"So yes, Hiei I really do like you. Maybe I even love you. I just can't help it. I know that right now you probably want to kill me for it and I wouldn't blame you if you did. No matter what you do you can't control how I feel. I like everything about you, your voice, your looks, your skills, and the way you act. You're absolutely perfect, Hiei. I mean there's no chance that I'd ever be able to measure up to you no matter how hard I tried. You can probably guess by now that I only joined the soccer team to get closer to you. Do anything, you can beat me, kill me, or yell at me, but I won't take it back. I've been obsessed with you for a long time now, and it's unbearable to try and pretend that there's even a chance of you liking me. Go ahead; tell me that you hate me. It'll be for both our sakes."

All this was said so fast that it was almost a blur to Shuuichi. Hiei had understood every word perfectly, despite the fact that it had almost been the redhead's intention for only certain snippets to be comprehendible. What he had said still had yet to take effect on Hiei. However, it had already devastated the boy who had made the declaration. His eyes were full of broken emotions, turning eyes into sad and dull jade orbs. A few tears had already leaked out of his eyes as he braced himself for the worst.

Even if Hiei had asked for it, he still had every right in the world to be mad at what he'd said. A few more tears escaped unbidden from his eyes while he began to shake gently. Suddenly collapsing on the bed, he began to cry. This wasn't something he was supposed to do. Boys weren't supposed to cry like this. It made him look like an overly hormonal teenage girl. He covered his eyes and sobbed softly in to the warm blankets, ashamed of his own behavior. Quietly retreating to a corner of his mind, he found himself in a daze. The only thing able to bring him out of it was a rough jerk as Hiei pulled him up roughly and placed a hand none too gently under his chin, forcing him to look up. The redhead sniffled for a moment, puffy red gaze meeting crimson glare. There was nothing gentle or kind about how Hiei was reacting. Not even his aura showed signs of sympathy in the slightest. So… Hiei really didn't care.

"Calm yourself, idiot. You're acting like a child, and over what? This is just a stupid high school crush that won't affect you life in the slightest. Only girls are supposed to do that! Remember, this is like, not love. You may think you know me, but I'll tell you that you've barely even scratched the surface!" The redhead didn't know anything else to do. He launched himself unbidden at Hiei, wrapped his arms around him, and cried freely against the strong shoulder. Hiei only tensed and shoved him away.

He could hear the annoyed snort Hiei issued only slightly. He was too caught up in what Hiei had just said to really think straight. It hurt more than anything to hear what Hiei had just said. Like, not love… Shouldn't that be true? It wasn't every day you came across love of the romantic kind. Why should he even slightly think that this was real love? Real love had to be two-sided, didn't it? No matter how much Shuuichi didn't want to say it, he believed it to be true. He'd never be good enough for Hiei, or even worthy enough to kiss the ground he walked upon. "Honestly, do you really think anything could ever work out between us? We're both boys, Shuuichi. What would society say if it was discovered that the two model students were in an affair? Though I know you have a different way of thinking, it still isn't possible. You'll be an outcast." Hiei said angrily.

Weakening, the redhead shrunk back, overtaken by the sharp sting of Hiei's rejection. It was obvious that Hiei must've had a lecture in mind. Before he was even able to start, Shuuichi issued a soft sort of noise from his throat. He'd already managed to compose himself back to his regular calm state, but the pain remained bottled up inside. While he had the intention of turning and forgetting about it, Hiei didn't even look like he was finished yelling. Hiei seemed to get an idea at the very moment. You could tell by his gaze that the thought had struck him very suddenly.

"You know, I'll tell you what. I will be your 'boyfriend' just for a while. It is not in any way to benefit you, just to clear things up. However, if I can say that I'm going out with someone to all these annoying women who want to date me, it'll be a reward for me. So long as you're willing to bail me out of worse situations without any personal benefit, I'll allow you to call yourself my boyfriend. I will say this, though. This will not be a permanent relationship. I am allowed to dismiss you anytime I feel it is fit. So, do not get comfortable with it. What do you say?" he asked. It took the boy in question a long time to think. This was a chance of a lifetime, and he was extremely lucky that Hiei had just put forth such an attractive offer. The only problem was that this wasn't the real thing. He was most likely going to be in an idle relationship without much benefit towards his feelings. Plus, from what Hiei had said, he could only end up hurt in the end. Why should he be stupid enough to take this and even believe this would be slightly like the real thing? He reminded himself that it most likely not be like his greatest fantasies.

No, Hiei did not like him. This wasn't a cover up, as Shuuichi may have dreamed once. It was all common sense to say that this was all going to be for Hiei's personal benefit. The redhead may have had some pretty impossible fantasies, but he wasn't an idiot. He'd always had a natural talent when it came to seeing hidden emotions. He could read people's auras. He'd know when they were sad, happy, and anything on from there. He could tell literally that Hiei did not like him. This time, it wasn't his lack of self-confidence to blame. This was a true fact that not even the most powerful god could change.

There would be no nights where Hiei would hold him gently while whispering sweet nothings into his ear. There would be no kisses, hugs, close contact, or even reassuring words. His heart screamed out despite it all. It wanted anything it could take as close to the real thing. It was the part of him that held the naïve part of him that held the hope that Hiei'd one day love him. Without much control over his own body, he could feel himself nod idly. Hiei looked satisfied, as if he had just won the grand prize at a contest or something. Only a few seconds after he had made his decision did it sink in what he'd gotten himself into. He was just setting himself up for the most painful experience of his life.

With another movement, Hiei sat only a few inches away from Shuuichi, a smirk curling across his lips. With the intention of rewarding the boy for being so cooperative with him, he leaned in quickly for a kiss. Sensations erupted at Hiei's actions, paralyzing him completely. He wanted to react, to kiss back or at least embrace him. No such thing like that ever happened.

Before the other was even able to react, he had already pulled away and moved back to a less awkward distance. No matter how hard the redhead tried to sustain it, he could already feel the light pink tint coming across his cheeks while his heart raced faster than ever. Whatever thoughts he'd had before were chased away, though not far on the horizon. Hiei's kiss had left him wanting more. He wanted anything, another kiss, or a simple touch or hug. He was reminded quickly that their agreement hadn't had anything to do with being in love. Hiei stopped him when he went to move closer to him.

"We need to set ground rules first. I don't want you to make physical contact with me unless I'm currently making direct physical contact too. Don't go broadcasting to the world the fact that you're my 'boyfriend'. You'll get bad rumors started. Most of all, I don't want you to expect me to make physical contact. I'll only do it as I see fit. Understood?" Hiei's words hurt Shuuichi a little, even though he should have expected it. He sighed and made a noise in his throat as a signal that he agreed. Hiei nodded again before casting his bored gaze absentmindedly off elsewhere. He then arranged some blankets on the ground so he could sleep. After switching of the bedside lamp and muttering a quick 'goodnight' Hiei turned his back to Shuuichi for the first time and lay down. Shuuichi, too, sighed and lay down sadly. He felt tired, drained.

Two words echoed throughout his mind, making him dread the situation he'd just dragged himself into. Only Pretend…

Me: Well, I think that this story has pretty much gone down the drain. People who've read my last chaptered story are probably going 'Romance in chapter six? It's the end of the world as we know it!' Well, this is not romance yet, I'll tell you that much. As told in the story, Hiei really has no interest in dating Shuuichi. He really just took a pity on him and figured it could also be used for self-benefit. In this story, it's not going to be getting together that'll be the problem. There's going to be a huge conflict later though. NO this relationship will not remain stable. The real problem is not romantic, but it's something wrong on Shuuichi's part. There is actually a term for it, so I'll give points to anyone who can guess it correctly. Honestly, I'm also sorry about the lateness on my part. This was actually done over the weekend, but due to Internet problems, was unable to be posted.


End file.
